Today is the Big Game, and by that I don't mean the Super Bowl, but Puppy Bowl XII. I stumbled across this the first year it aired, and for the past 84 years (in dog years) it has proved so popular that Animal Planet keeps bringing it back, running it throughout the day on Super Bowl Sunday, a sort of counter-programming to the Super Bowl -- though because it runs all day, it's just turned into a an event of its own. The Puppy Bowl begins at 3 PM (Los Angles time, 6 PM in the East) and lasts for two hours, and then repeats almost endlessly for the next 8-10 hours. They record it ahead of time, and then edit it down for the Sunday broadcast.

In it's simplest terms, the Puppy Bowl is basically a small "football stadium" into which they bring several dozen puppies, rotating them throughout the event, drop in a bump of chew toys and lets the puppies do what a gaggle of puppies do. There is a Water Bowl Cam (underneath the bowl to show the dogs slurping), a referee -- sorry, "rufferee", cheerleaders (last year it was goats, this year they're bringing in "fluffy chickens" which comes from Brazil, I believe, and have feathers that look like fur), a Kitty Half-time Show (you can figure that one out), and and Eye-in-the-Sky "blimp" manned usually by hamsters.

But really, it's just a mess of adorable puppies running around, jumping on one another and playing win close quarters for two hours. And then repeated and repeated and repeated....

All the puppies on the Puppy Bow are available for adoption, though some have already been adopted by game time. Animal Planet provides details on their website for those interested in adopting.

Here's a recap of last year's fourth quarter --

​And for those who want to get a heads-up on this year's Big Game, here is Animal Planet's brief Sneak Peek. If you want to see the full, incredibly-detailed version, however, just check it out the "Puppy Bowl XII Pregame Show" here that runs about 20 minutes.

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Robert J. Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, and is a regular columnist for the Huffington Post and the Writers Guild of America. Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel. As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.